Dale Bred ewes and lambs with Pen-Y-Ghent beyond The dramatic profile of Pen-Y-Ghent and the heather fell of Plover Hill dominated our day. The wind was cold and blustery and cloud scudded over the fells, casting them in shadow until the sun spotlit the moors. A flock of Dale Bred ewes and lambs mistook us for the farmer come to feed them. But as we prepared to set out he arrived on his quad bike with his sheepdog running after and the flock following. Marsh marigolds gave a splash of colour in wet pastures, and lapwing were rising and calling in tumbling flight.
We headed for Fountains Fell to the sound track of skylark and curlew. A bleak landscape of peat hags and traces of heather with bright greens of sphagna in blanket bog. It seemed the habitat for golden plover and as we climbed I heard them. At the cairn we found a pair amongst the peat hags and grasses and stood and watched. When sunlight catches golden plover in breeding plumage the bird is resplendent and its habit of standing on hummock or rim of peat hag helps find it. If the bird turns its back on you that mantle of greenish gold vanishes amongst the moorland grasses. We walked on to catch the others in our small group and the pair flew calling.
Fountains Fell with bright green sphagna and seed-heads of cotton grass
Tussock of hare's-tail cotton grass with seed-heads 
Lunch was a Wuthering Heights experience. On Darnbrook Fell, we sheltered behind a stone wall and the wind whistled and moaned through its stones.
I 've always loved to see the moors white with the seed heads of common cotton grass that grows in pools and in the wettest of places. Hare's-tail cotton grass prefers less wet ground, though on blanket bog everywhere can be rather wet and our boots squeaked and squelched as we walked. Peat hag terrain was all dark chocolate peat, washed into fine silt by downpours. We set out on limestone below Pen-Y-Ghent but here were fine gravels eroded out of sandstone and grit-stone. The moorland might seem bleak, but not to me. Hummocks of ericas and sphagna are full of colour and texture with lots of different flora all with the freshness of spring that comes late to the moors. And there's far more than you will discover.
The vegetation was diverse and changing. There was sphagnum moss, bilberry leaves, cow berry budding and soon to flower, and crowberry. I spied crisp green leaves fresh and unfurling amongst sphagna and ericas. Cloudberry scarcely found in Cumbria. Last year, a little later in June, I found the plant on East Baugh Fell but without flowers- only the red sepals that, for a moment, we mistook for the flower. Now I came upon a few white flower buds and I photographed a couple of open flowers which I'm saving for my book.It scarcely seemed a summer’s day. At a glance this was bleak moorland, boggy underfoot. But look at your feet, look at the hummocks of ericas and sphagna and it's full of colour and textures of lots of different flora all with the freshness of spring that comes late to the moors. And there's far more than you will discover. Fresh bilberry shoots tinged with pink, budding cow berry, wintry-looking heather, clumps of hare’s tail cotton grass with white plumes of seed heads, cotton grass in wetter places. Darnbrook Fell. Wuthering heights the lunch time wall experience: luzula and scurvy grass
To come upon cloudberry was not unexpected, but it was a delight. It's leaves are such a striking contrast to the ericas and grasses surrounding it. The image left of these three shows the green of sphagnum moss at a spring-head and a patch of rushes, luzula. I liked the sudden surprises, like the scurvy grass in flower that we walked through for a few minutes, then saw no more.
The vegetation was diverse and changing. There was sphagnum moss, bilberry leaves, cow berry budding and soon to flower, and crowberry. I spied crisp green leaves fresh and unfurling amongst sphagna and ericas. Cloudberry scarcely found in Cumbria. Last year, a little later in June, I found the plant on East Baugh Fell but without flowers- only the red sepals that, for a moment, we mistook for the flower. Now I came upon a few white flower buds and I photographed a couple of open flowers which I'm saving for my book.It scarcely seemed a summer’s day. At a glance this was bleak moorland, boggy underfoot. But look at your feet, look at the hummocks of ericas and sphagna and it's full of colour and textures of lots of different flora all with the freshness of spring that comes late to the moors. And there's far more than you will discover. Fresh bilberry shoots tinged with pink, budding cow berry, wintry-looking heather, clumps of hare’s tail cotton grass with white plumes of seed heads, cotton grass in wetter places. Darnbrook Fell. Wuthering heights the lunch time wall experience: luzula and scurvy grass
To come upon cloudberry was not unexpected, but it was a delight. It's leaves are such a striking contrast to the ericas and grasses surrounding it. The image left of these three shows the green of sphagnum moss at a spring-head and a patch of rushes, luzula. I liked the sudden surprises, like the scurvy grass in flower that we walked through for a few minutes, then saw no more.
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